The North Front
by TheKoganKid
Summary: If asked, Mark would deny wearing Eduardo's jacket when he's gone at meetings. But he does and sometimes his lying catches up to him. Mark/Eduardo slash from The Social Network!


As another blast of cold air nips sharply at his ears, eyes and nose, Eduardo wonders again why, exactly, he chooses to go to these meetings so late. Maybe it's because the people he meets with are more likely to bend to his level when on the brink of falling asleep, or maybe it's because he's developed an insomniac-like habit since his beginning in college. His best friend is known for staying up late, or even through the entire night on a weekday, and he wonders to himself if that quirk has somehow rubbed off onto him, and now he is unable to get rid of it.

But either way, Eduardo curses the below zero Massachusetts weather as he trucks up a slight incline, his less than sturdy dress shoes giving snow access to creep in and soak his socks through and through.

He wonders also why, it is, that he didn't just take a cab back to Kirkland, but for some reason when exiting the business firm, the thought of walking seemed too appealing to pass up. So tugging his collar up higher on his exposed neck and shoving his hands into the deep packets of his jacket, he began the walk back to campus, humming to himself. Maybe it's just that the cold clears his head, or that he enjoys the sight of snow falling against the street lights, but either way, he wanted to walk back home and that was that.

But when reaching Kirkland, the promising sight of light and warmth drawing him in like a moth, Eduardo is faintly glad that the walk's over, because he loves snow, but it's a testy sort of love at two in the morning when he's a walking dead man and his toes are completely numb. Nothing has sounded more glorious than the shallow ping the security system makes when accepting his Student ID, and nothing has felt sweeter than the rush of eighty degrees covering him head to toe when pulling the front door open.

And it's a hard job dragging himself up four flights of stairs to make it back to his newly-acquired dorm room, but the lingering thought of climbing into a warm bed and sleeping for twelve hours is enough to make him jog up them.

When he finally makes it to his room, and unlocks the door, it's even warmer inside of the small space and his freezing body gobbles it up like a dog lapping at ice water on a hot summer's day. Dustin is sitting on the couch, typing away on his laptop, and the only sign that he gives in regards to acknowledging Eduardo's arrival is a small wave without looking up from the bright screen. Eduardo just rolls his eyes and toes off his shoes, dropping his bag onto the table near the door; his soaking socks are next, and the feeling of them finally being detached from his frost-bitten feet makes him hum pleasantly.

And walking past the lit fireplace makes the water evaporate from his feet almost at once, and for a fleeting moment, Eduardo wants to bend down and kiss the burning flames like he's kissed another person often. The thought in itself is ludicrous, because Eduardo would get third degree burns on his mouth and render his lips useless for God knows how long, but at the moment he could care less because the happiness of finally being home has made him feel somewhat intoxicated.

The sight that greets him when he rounds the corner does nothing to help this bubbly feeling, though, because it's endearing and cute and a little humorous all rolled up into one and Eduardo feels his smile grow into an all around shit-eating grin.

Mark is curled up into a ball on their bed, face buried into his pillow, mouth slightly ajar, and his curly hair seeming to twist and stick out even more than usual. The sleeping position of choice isn't that all uncommon, and it's not what makes Eduardo want to squeeze the life out of the younger man.

It's the fact that Mark is wearing his North Face jacket again that makes him turn to mush, nose buried into the too tall collar and his thin, lanky frame huddled into the too big entirety of the coat. Eduardo knows that Mark does this almost every time he's away at a meeting or at a conference of some sort and unable to fall asleep with him, but only twice has he ever caught Mark in the act of doing so. The computer genius denies the fact that he misses Eduardo enough to wear his clothing every single time the matter's brought up, but when Mark eventually storms away to retreat into the black corner of doom with his computer, Dustin snickers and ends up telling Eduardo once more that Mark's a pitiful liar and wears it all the damn time.

And for some odd reason or another, the fact that Mark is embarrassed and bashful enough to want to deny that he wears Eduardo's favorite jacket makes the taller of the two love him even more.

After admiring the scene for a moment, remaining silent and lurking in the doorway with a content smile on his face, Eduardo creeps forwards and sheds his jacket, draping it over the back of Mark's desk chair. And fingers already working at his dark grey dress shirt, Eduardo gets that off, too, and pulls on a t-shirt before reaching out to rouse Mark to get him to move over.

Mark protests the request of consciousness at first, as usual, seeing as how it takes an entire pot of coffee to get him to wake up in the mornings, but eventually with the right amount of prodding and sweet talking, Mark opens his eyes blearily and blinks up at Eduardo cutely.

"Wardo?" he inquires groggily.

And Eduardo can't help but chuckle, though he knows when Mark wakes up tomorrow he'll be pissed at the businessman for laughing at him. Because Mark Zuckerberg remembers everything.

"Hey." he responds after a moment.

"You're back." Mark points out intelligently, a look of calm happiness taking over the exhausted grumpiness.

"Yeah, I am." Eduardo agrees with another laugh. "Now move over so I can lay down."

Mark does without so much as a protesting whine, eager to have the other back home and in his presence, and Eduardo gets into bed and the feeling of body warmth that he envisioned on his way home is a million times better than the fantasy.

Sighing with pleasure, he sinks into his pillow and the mattress, and thinks a fourth time within the span of ten minutes about just how wonderful warmth really is.

Along with his boyfriend, who is now wiggling closer again and curling up to his side, head in the crook of his neck and arms tucking themselves around his waist.

"Shit, Eduardo, you're freezing."

"I know." And as Mark exchanges his body warmth with him, Eduardo thinks that Mark is kind of stupid when woken up and kind of wonderful because he's both sharing something with him and because he is making thoughtful, painfully obvious comments out loud.

And Mark doesn't even hiss when Eduardo sneaks one of his icy legs in between Mark's fiery ones, effectively tangling their limbs together as he also returns the smaller's embrace around his middle, and Eduardo thinks about how much he really does love this man.

And he also thinks that Mark is slightly telepathic, because he grins and nuzzling closer into Eduardo's neck, he mutters sleepily, "Love you too, Wardo."

Eduardo notes to himself that he kind of loves sleepy, delirious Mark, because he's more willingly cuddly and lovable and isn't such an arrogant bastard.

But Eduardo also loves him when he's awake and alive and interactive, because it's who Mark is, and he's kind of soft with him as it is and Eduardo wouldn't want him any other way.

_**A/N: It's nearly one in the morning, but after watching The Social Network for the tenth time in a row, I had to press this out before the ambition to complete it left me. I came up with the idea when I watched the scene where Mark and Sean go into one of their meetings and noticed that Mark was wearing a black North Face jacket- maybe even the exact same one Eduardo wears on and off at the beginning, like when getting the letter that he made the second cut of the Phoenix. So I hope you liked it and all that shit :) **_

_**Also, two things : One, please don't kill me, but omf I think that some twincest between Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss would be the hottest shit ever (Winklecest?), and second, I think my favorite line of the entire movie has to be, "Shit, I need a second to let the classiness waft over me." **_

**Until Kristy becomes sane, guys. **


End file.
